Tuesday, 7 February 2017

For the love of trees

If you don't live near
Sheffield you may not be aware of the tree felling programme that is
going on throughout the city. It's caused a stir due to the amount of
trees that have been been identified for the chop along with how the
whole process has been conducted. Campaigns have been organised,
protests mounted and there have even been arrests. So far 4,000 trees
have been cut down. Many people have said they are just trees but
trees are more than just wood and leaves.

One of the trees that has
been scheduled to be cut down in Sheffield is the Chelsea Road Elm.
It was nominated for the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year
competition. It didn't win but ironically if it had done it would
have been awarded a prize of £1,000 to go towards specialist care
for it. The importance of this tree is that it has become home to the
White-letter Hairstreak butterfly. This variety of butterfly is found
exclusively in elm trees which meant that it suffered a natural
decline over the years due to the number of trees killed by Dutch Elm
disease. At one point it was feared this species would become
extinct. The reason given by the council's contractor as to why the
tree should be cut down is that its roots are causing minor uplifting
of the pavement.

Campaigners against the tree
cutting have argued that that the whole tree felling programme is
about cost. In 2012 Sheffield City Council signed a 25 year contract
with the private company Amey to maintain Sheffield's 36,000 trees.
The campaigners say Amey want to cut down as many trees in the early
years of the contract so for the remaining years the maintenance costs
are greatly reduced. I'm no arborist but I have seen several
green-leaved trees with notices on them stating they are going to be
cut down as they are either, 'dead or dying'.

A photo posted by Ness (@jibberjabberuk) on Jun 22, 2016 at 1:09am PDT

Why are trees so important?
Sheffield like many places has been subject to flooding in recent
years. In fact the future of the HS2 train line coming into Sheffield
is now in doubt due to flooding fears. Trees have the ability to use
more water than any other vegetation. They can absorb thousands of
litres of stormwater. With so much green land being bought up and
used for building on flood plains are being greatly reduced. Not only
do they provide benefits to the ground they also look after the
environment around them. The canopies of trees act as a natural
filter from dust and pollutants from the air. In busy towns and
cities they also reduce noise. In a fast moving world research has
shown that being surrounded by trees can bring down your blood
pressure and reduce stress levels within minutes.

So if you do one thing in
your garden this year make sure you plant a tree.

1 comment:

This is an interesting post and not something I was aware of in Sheffield. Coming from a tree background (I worked as a countryside officer for many years) I see things from both sides. On the one hand trees can be sick but to the untrained eye this may not be obvious ... but on the other hand far too many trees are felled for spurious reasons, often those based on an inconvenience to the public. Trees are so vitally important for our well being and for wildlife that I believe every attempt should be taken to save them and only those that really are dead or dying should be removed.

Thank you for joining in with #GoingGreen and I hope you get he chance to plant some trees. 💚 I have a quince tree I need to get planted out soon and have planted many trees and hedges over the years.

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